Tim Jackson's Friends Are for Signing

My plan for today was to take a look at Friends Are for Signing by Tim Jackson. I did take an American Sign Language course back when I was maybe 13 or 14 and I originally got this comic through that. Although I lost/got rid of my original copy at some point, I picked up another copy a couple years ago. I thought it was cool to use comics as a vehicle for teaching something inherently visual like sign language, but since I no longer had my original copy, I didn't realize until just a few years ago that the author of that book was also the same man who researched and wrote Pioneering Cartoonists of Color. But when I went to check on some details about Jackson just now, I learned that he passed away in late November.

The comic is about a group of friends in high school. Vix notices a new cute guy, but when she goes to introduce herself, he ignores her. We soon learn, though, that he's deaf and likely just didn't hear her at all. In order to be able to talk with him, she signs up for an after-school sign language class, as do her friends as a means of support and general interest. Most of the book then takes place in the subsequent classes as the students are instructed in sign language, with some additional time outside of class as they practice with one another.

Vix does ultimately introduce herself to the "cute guy." (Who is deaf, but is better at lip reading that sign language.) They hit it off and, after spending time with his other deaf friends, Vix ponders the notion of feeling like a minority when she's among them since her sign language skills are so much more rudimentary and slower than everyone else's.

I always liked that there was a relatable story here, first and foremost. It's not especially complex, but as a teen myself when I first read it, it was easily identifiable even though I knew of no one with any sort of hearing disability. It's a simple notion of wanting to meet someone (with the implied idea of potentially dating them) but being nervous about it, and having your friends simultaneously encourage and mock you about it. But that was easily something that I think many young teens face. (Jackson was only 23 when he first wrote this, so I'm sure that period of his life was still pretty fresh in his memory.)

There's also no unnecessary pretense about the education angle about it. The characters themselves are learning sign language in a formal class setting, so that there are very basic instructions on how to sign the alphabet and common phrases doesn't feel shoehorned in. It's very directly part of the narrative. Even though it's an almost-too-obvious solution, it works and is very effective here.

What else I appreciated was that the notion at the end about being a minority within a select group. What particularly makes that stand out here is that Vix's friend group is very diverse racially. Her best friend is Chinese, and their mutual friend that gets them enrolled in the class is Black. But that it's given any attention at all is within the context of the sign language class itself. The characters are not so much defined racially, but simply that one of the lessons is on countries and continents. That Vix doesn't feel like a minority among them -- despite being the only white person -- but feels that among a group of deaf people suggests some reflection on the part of the reader.

The book is only 32 pages, so it obviously can't cover a whole lot. I definitely recall this being a supplement to the class I was taking and very much not a substitute for it. As far as I can tell, everything in the book is still valid and it holds up very well. I suppose some of the hairstyles and clothes might be a little out of date, but Jackson's generally drawn everything simply enough that nothing really calls attention to itself.

Friends Are for Signing has been out of print for years, and it's odd enough that you don't see it come up for sale very often. I've never seen it available through a comic retailer of any sort; it's always just independent sellers on ebay or what-have-you. Jackson is probably most widely recognized today for Pioneering Cartoonists of Color, justifiably a more impressive and significant work. But I think of him more directly from Friends Are for Signing, which I recollect pretty much every time I see someone using sign language.

Thanks very much for this, Tim. I am sorry I only had the opportunity to meet you once, and didn't even realize then how long I had been familiar with your work.

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